I have in my ‘possession’ a 3 year old vegetable rejecter. Lawrence is not a fan of anything green, unless it’s a lollipop. Then he will just about tolerate it, but would much prefer the red or range lolly variety. READ MORE
Oh how we love The Hungry Caterpillar in this house. It’s surely the perfect children’s book. Delicious treats? Tick. Gluttony? Tick. Magical transformation? Tick. Delightful words. Tick. Pokability? Tick. And those illustrations? Triple tick. We just love it.
So to hear that Eric Carle was publishing a book about surrealism, called, quite obviously The Nonsense Show, well, we had to try it out. (Yes, my sons are born of one art graduate and one would-be art graduate). READ MORE
Is meringue the way to a mans heart? I am almost certain it might be. Almost every chap I have known seems to love meringue nearly as much as they love pies. This is a meringue pie that’s the slightly more exotic cousin of the lemon meringue variety. I take my inspiration from chocolate lime sweets I used to buy as a child by the quarter. You could make chocolate pastry but it’s a bit of a b*gger so if in doubt make this very well behaved pastry and then add chcolate curls to the rim of the pie once it’s cold. Much easier. (But if you do want to tackle naughty chocolate pastry then my Bake Off recipe is here.)
All comments gratefully received. I love reading them.
One year ago: Octonauts cupcakes and Walnut, fudge and Fleur de Sel cookies
Two years ago: Mutter paneer and Hot cross biscotti
Chocolate lime meringue pie
Ingredients:
Mix the flour and icing sugar with the flat beater then add the butter and mix to breadcrumbs on speed 2. Add the egg and mix at 1 until pastry just coming together. Stop machine and pull together with hands. Then wrap in clingfilm and rest in the fridge for 20 minutes. Roll out to the thickness of a pound coin and line a 20ish cm tart tin (mine is loose bottomed for easy removal later) and slip it under the pastry by pulling the pastry up from the work surface. (Of course feel free to transfer the pastry to your tin whichever way you prefer but this is mine.) Push the pastry into the edges of the tin and into the sides then run a rolling pin over the top of the tin. A very quick and easy way to trim the pastry. Pop the tin into the fridge for 15 minutes, preheat the oven to 180C, with one shelf in the middle of the oven. Bake blind with baking beans or dried rice lining some greaseproof paper for about 20 minutes. Remove the greaseproof paper and beans and bake again until the pastry is completely baked through. Then leave to cool.
Make the meringue by whisking the room temperature egg whites to medium peaks and then adding the castor sugar a teaspoon at a time – 30 second intervals between each teaspoon as this stops the meringue weeping in the oven by ensuring all the sugar dissolves. Add the cornflour. Whisk until at stiff peaks and very glossy and white. Preheat the oven to 180C and heat the lime filling in a saucepan. Add to the pastry case and then spoon/pipe the meringue over the top starting at the edges (making sure the pastry is touched by the meringue) and working inwards (or the filling will escape) then bake for 20 minutes. Leave to cool in the tin for about 1.5 hours before cutting and serving.
I am confused about the number 3. At university and in the world of advertising, anything with three components was a Good Thing. We used to talk a lot about how wonderful, strong and simple the (holy) trinity was. Now I am not so sure; you see every time I mention my thoughts on having baby number 3 I am almost always met with a very strong opinion about why no-one should have three children. And that’s from people who aren’t one of three. Don’t even get me started on those who are.
The usual issue is that one sibling is left out. Well I’m one of one and so I was always the whole team and yet the loner. I have little sympathy for this argument. Besides me and my two best pals spent our whole teenage years as a three. It worked fine. We were a striking trio, one blonde, one ginger and one brunette.
Another issue is the money. As in how nothing fits a family of 5. You need a special bus type car, package holidays don’t fit, family cinema tickets are for 4 etc. Well, we already have the car with 7 seats so that’s ticked off. And we’re creatures of habit and tend to holiday in the UK in cottages so that’s sorted too. The cinema? I only took the boys the other day for the first time and youngest son starting shouting ‘I’ve got wind’ an hour into the film and so we had to leave. (He did to be fair.)
Time, energy and hands are the last trinity of reasons. Not enough of any of them. I can’t argue with the hands one, but time… I can create time surely? And energy… That’s what coffee’s for.
These muffins are super quick to make. Perfect for if you have lots of kids and no time.
Comments, as always, welcomed. Especially wisdom regarding the number 3.
One year ago: Baileys chocolate fridge cake truffles and Experimental banana loaf
Two years ago: Cherry, white choc and apricot biscuits and Reeses’ inspired chocolate and peanut tart andSesame, quinoa and carrot salad
Blueberry, lime and chocolate chip muffins
Preheat the oven to 200C/Gas 6 and check the rack is in the centre of the oven. Line a muffin tray with 12 cases. Mix the flour, sugar, baking powder and zest in a bowl and stir really well. In a measuring jug pour the milk, lime juice, eggs and melted butter. Mix this together with a fork and don’t worry if the butter starts to re-solidify into little bits. This will happen if your milk is icy cold from the fridge and still makes for lovely muffins.
Pour the wet ingredients into the dry ones and mix gently with a fork until everything just comes together – don’t treat like a cake mixture as this’ll make your muffins tough. Add the blueberries and chocolate chips and gently stir through. Fill your cases to the top and then bake for about 25 minutes until golden and the blueberries start to pop and leave their jam on the top of the muffins. Cool on a wire rack out of the tin and enjoy with a lot of kids.
If Kermit ordered a meringue, it’d be this one. Froggy green and zingy as hell; a lime meringue pie to be reckoned with. This isn’t a dessert that wraps you in a buttery, creamy blanket, stroking your temples and murmuring reassuring whispers before you’re carried to bed. It’s a hit you in the face, wake you up with a start, no-nonsense kind of a dessert.
If I still went out dancing the night away after dinner with friends, then this is the kind of sugar hit I might order to see me through the night. Nothing soporific about this baby. Energising, sharp and my favourite colour. All wrapped up in a bitter dark chocolate crust that’s more grown up than splitting the bill equally. I need more lime meringue pie in my life.
WARNING: Chocolate pastry is a total pain to work with and this one is very bitter and chocolately which makes it all the worse. Italian meringue should only be attempted with the use of a free standing mixer (in my humble opinion) and lime curd is well, not too bad to make when you take the previous two tasks into account. In short, I wouldn’t usually post this kind of recipe as it’s not something I’d make on an average day. However, a few people have asked me for it since the Bake Off, so here it is. Don’t say I didn’t warn you.
QUANTITIES: This pie recipe was developed for the Great British Bake Off, hence the quantities are for a large, TV friendly pie. You could use a smaller pie tin and freeze/make biscuits with the extra chocolate pastry, bottle any leftover lime curd and of course just pile the meringue really, really high.
EXCESS EGG WHITES: May I suggest you age them and make them into macaroons? As the freestanding mixer is already on the counter top and all that…
Ingredients for the pastry:
To decorate:
1. Preheat the oven to Gas 5/190C. Make sure the rack is in the middle of the oven.
2. Make the pastry. Sieve the flour, baking powder, cocoa and icing sugar. Rub in the butter. Add the egg yolks and bind together using a knife. Form into a flat circle using hands, roll the pastry out onto a cocoa and floured work surface until larger than the pie tin. Transfer to a 26cm, loose bottomed pie tin using the rolling pin (careful as my, this pastry can break easily – if it does, transfer and then do a patch up job in the tin y pinching the pastry together with your fingers and adding leftovers as patches), gently ease into the corners and use the rolling pin to trim the top by rolling it over the rim gently. Place in the freezer for 45 minutes.
3. Bake the pie crust lined with greaseproof paper and holding baking beans for 15 minutes. Remove baking beans and greaseproof paper and bake again until crisp – about another 5 – 10 mins dependant on ferocity of your oven – if it looks like it’s puffing up out of all control then remove from the oven and pop back in at a lower temperature. Allow to cool in the tin.
4. Make the meringue. Whisk the egg whites in a very clean freestanding mixer with the whisk attachment to soft peak stage. Turn mixer off.
5. Put the sugar, glucose and water into a small saucepan with a jam thermometer. Heat on the hob until the sugar dissolves then turn the heat up and allow to boil until the temperature reaches 120C. At 115C turn the freestanding mixer back on and whip the egg whites on a low speed.
6. Remove sugar from the heat at 120C and pour the boiling sugar in a steady stream into the eggs whilst the mixer is running. Leave mixer running for 7 minutes or until the bowl is cool to touch Add the vinegar and cornflour (pre mixed) then mix again. Set aside.
7. Make the lime filling. Take 125mls of the water and add cornflour – whisk well until combined. In a saucepan whisk the egg yolks, sugar, juice and rest of the water. Add the cornflour mix and then place on hob, whisking continually until it boils. Should take about 8 minutes. Then remove from the heat once it’s boiled continuously for 1 minute, still whisking all the time. Add the zest, stir and leave to cool a little. Add food colouring to make the curd green. Curiously it won’t be Kermit in colour already, even after all that zest.
8. Remove the pie shell from the fridge and add the lime filling, level with a knife.
9. Spoon the meringue onto the lime curd filling, being careful to push it to the edge of the crust with the back of the spoon, thus binding it. Use a blow torch to brown the top of the meringue, though worry not if you don’t own such a thing as the meringue is already cooked so this step can be left out. Chill the pie until ready, then unleash from the tin (or not, it’s your call) and pop onto a serving plate.
10. Decorate with lime zest or melted chocolate as you so wish. Serve, eat, dance.
Holly Bell 